I'm Here But Really Still There

Here it is Friday morning. Already. I’m sitting in the waiting room while Grady Lee has his therapies and I’m taking a deep breath and enjoying my coffee and the quiet. Since arriving back in Charlotte early Monday morning, this week has been a blur of, well, a blur of just regular life.

I have a cold. Grady has poison ivy. My kids have need-constant-attention disorder. The laundry pile hasn’t been a party. And really, how did my entire pantry of groceries dwindle in one week?

In between nose blows and folding clothes, I found moments to read blog updates from Bolivia team members and to look at their online photo albums. Usually these moments started off as a quick scan but somehow 20 minutes later I would snap back to the present and realize Annalyse was decorating with markers, Micah needed help in the bathroom, or Grady Lee was lost and confused in his math work.

The boys had a great time looking at some of the team pictures from Bolivia. “Why does that house have long grass on the ceiling?” “Dad, what are you chopping with that long knife?” “How come those cows are in the road?” “Did you really eat that food? Did you get a treat after you ate it all?” At random times this week stories have come to mind and it’s been precious to share them with the boys and watch their reactions and see their young minds try to grasp the huge differences between life as they know it and life in rural Bolivia.

And the things my boys have prayed from this week! Truly, from the mouths of the young ones come praise and encouragement and powerful teaching! “Dear Jesus, Please help all the boys and girls in Bolivia to learn about you and to know that you love them. Please help their dads and moms to stop going to church with idols. Help me to save my money so that I can go to Bolivia, too, and play with new friends. Thank you that dad and mom are home safe and that we had a lot of fun with all our babysitters. Amen.”

It seems that each evening this week has either had something happening or else I was just too lost in where-in-the-world-do-I-begin when I sat down to blog. I want to share details about the precious Bolivian friends I now have. I want to tell you how motivated I am because of their desire to love Jesus and reach their communities with his love. I want to show you the rugged beauty of Bolivia and how the tasks of everyday life become big undertakings and hard work. I want to praise my team mates and share special moments of profound learning they all experienced.

Mostly though, mostly I want to share, in words and with pictures, what a Mighty God we serve. In one week I saw His people bow before him and I saw those who don’t yet know Him turn a curious eye and a listening ear toward His truth. I saw the beauty of the Bolivian heavens and earth burst in praise for him. And in the midst of it all, I was there. I was there to see and hear and worship and touch and praise and experience God’s mighty work in Bolivia.

And I’m not the same because of it.

Maybe this weekend I’ll beg Grady for a couple of hours alone at Starbucks and I’ll manage to sort through the thousands of pictures I have and the many stories I’ve journaled. I can’t wait to share details with you because I can’t wait for you to worship God with me by reading and seeing what He’s up to in Bolivia.